Despite the presence of indicators that demonstrate recent initiatives to change the
content of some available educational administration programs, the content areas and
course findings of most available programs seem to have remained practically
unchanged within the past several decades (McCarthy, 1999; Achilles, 1994; Murphy,
1991). Studies in the last decade show contradictory findings. Kraus and Cordeiro’s
study (Kraus and Cordeiro, 1995), for example, found that some administrators in some
specific areas recommend a strong academic foundation for the courses (such as
budgeting, scheduling, special education, technology, curriculum, school law and
statistics) while Milstein et al. (1991) found more support for integrating knowledge
acquisition with practical hands on experience. Connection with the field is seen as
important because educational leadership has always been an applied area of graduate
study (McCarthy, 1999).